Witches and Demons (Print)

Witches and Demons (Printt)
Saloni Quinby
All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2020 Saloni Quinby
Excerpt from Dark Before Dawn

Night fell upon the longest stretch of lonely road Aaron had ever traveled. He'd stopped about an hour ago to ask directions from an elderly man walking a wolf-dog. Aaron generally wasn't afraid of animals, but the way this canine had snarled and growled, its eyes blazing and fangs flashing, Aaron had been wary. Unfortunately the old man hadn't been much friendlier than the dog, but he'd given Aaron curt directions to the nearest highway. At least he'd told Aaron it was the fastest route. About ten minutes ago he'd turned down a dirt road, past an iron gate the old man had described. Now he wasn't so sure the directions were accurate. Maybe the old dude had decided to play a trick on an obvious city guy. Aaron looked like he belonged deep in the country about as much as the wolf-dog belonged in a city park.

The night grew darker and Aaron started to worry. He was nearly out of gas and the car was making a strange grating sound, not to mention the check engine light had turned on seconds ago. He'd been driving since six o'clock in the morning and that was after a measly four hours of sleep. If the car didn't die first, Aaron might end up falling asleep behind the wheel. He was torn between pulling over to get some rest and continuing a little farther to see if the turnoff for the highway was nearby after all. Then fate made the decision for him. The damn car choked and died.

Cursing, Aaron tried to start it, but it refused to move. Finally he sighed, folded his arms on the wheel and rested his head on them. He closed his eyes.

"I'll only relax for a minute," he said. He'd just started zoning out when he jumped awake.

Was he crazy?

He couldn't sit here in the middle of a dark road. If someone happened to drive by, they'd crash into him.

Groaning, he stepped out of the car and pushed it to a safer position along the side of the road. By now it was so dark that his hazards were the only light in the area. He wished he'd charged his cell phone battery before leaving the hotel. At least then he could call for help. Before leaving on his business trip, he'd accidentally left his car phone charger in his second vehicle. An hour into his journey he realized he'd forgotten it, but he'd decided not to turn back for it. Now he wished he had. An hour of inconvenience would have saved him hours, maybe even a night, in the woods of northeast USA. Even better, why hadn't he simply flown?

Seated behind the wheel, he set his chair to a full recline position and, using his black sports jacket as a blanket, settled down to rest.

Aaron felt like he'd just drifted off when banging on his window roused him.

He jumped up, his heart pounding, and stared at a slim, dark-haired man standing near his car.

"Hey," the guy shouted, his voice muffled through the closed window. "You can't stay here."

His brow furrowed, Aaron opened the window partway and said, "I don't have much choice. My car died and my cell is out of batteries. Do you have a phone by any chance?"

The guy closed his eyes and shook his head. "I don't believe this. This is private property."

"You own the road?" Aaron asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow.

"Road? Mister, this is my driveway. Didn't you see the gate at the end?"

"Yeah."

"So you just opened it and drove on through?" the guy asked, a harsh edge to his voice.

Curling his lip, Aaron said, "No. It was wide open."

"Open?"

"Yeah, so I didn't realize it was private property." Aaron sighed and shook his head. "Besides the old guy with the wolf dog said this would take me to the highway."

"Old guy with the wolf dog? That's Mr. Seymour. He's a little nuts. I wouldn't doubt it if he opened the damn gate."

"I'm sorry for trespassing, but --"

"Any other time I wouldn't care if you parked all night. Just not tonight."

"I told you --"

"I know. I know. Well, you can't stay here. It's not safe."

Now Aaron became suspicious. What was this guy up to? "Why?" he asked.

"There's a private hunting party going on. You might get hurt and I don't want to be responsible."

"Then how about either letting me use a phone or calling a ride for me?"

The man stared at him for a long moment. The flashing hazard lights cast eerie shadows on his face, but he seemed to be quite handsome with fabulous cheekbones, a long, slender nose and wide set eyes. Aaron couldn't tell exactly what color they were, but they looked light.

"All right," the guy said. "My cabin isn't far. You can come with me."